Duets

It seems to me, and maybe, it's just because of how old I am and the music I heard growing up, but the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s were the heyday of pop music duets.

I remember hearing the song Private Dancer sometime in the 1980s. My Mom said, "That's too bad. Tina Turner was one of my favorite rock and roll singers." I think that, propably,bthis song was in her mind when she said that. 1971 -Proud Mary - Ike and Tina Turner.

I remember hearing this song on KOIT FM back in the 1970s. What I didn't know then is that the two singers, Niel Diamond and Barbara Streisand didn't record it together. In fact their two recordings of the song were made years apart. Back about 20 years ago I met a guy on Facebook who had recently converted to Holy Orthodxy and who had been a radio DJ in, I think, North Carolina. He told me about how they splice together the two recording to make their two recordings into a duet. They probably violated all kinds of copyright laws when they did it, but the duet version was a bigger hit than the two solo versions. Here are Barbara and Niel performing the song together for the first time at the 1980 Grammy Awards.

This song was a favorite of my late brother Ken's wife. Everytime it came on the radio or teevee she would say, "Oh! Kiki Dee!" 1976 - Don't go Breaking My Heart - Elton John and KiKi Dee

I was in the 4th grade when I saw the movie Greeae. At that age (9 or 10) I didn't know what the story was about. (It was only many years later when son #3 was running the lights in his high school production of the play that I finally saw and was appallled by what it was about.) But I knew from this song that if I was ever going to have a woman like Sandi I had better "shape up". You're The One That I Want- 1978 - Olivia Newton John and John Travolta.

There is a maried couple I really want to put on this list of duets but only one of them actually sang. The other was an instrumentalist. The Capatain and Tenille had some hits in the '70s but I don't think he ever sang so I can't count them as a duet. But there is another couple who were married (Until his heroin addiction wrecked that marriage. You know there is a reason why we outlaw that drug.) This song was part of Carly Simons 1974 album Hotcakes. I remember my teacher in kindergarten teaching it to me. I didn't understand it but it was fun to sing. 1974 - Mockingbird - Carly Simon and James Taylor It is one of my favorite songs. I hope you enjoy it. And, Oh My Gosh, do you see the look of love on her face when she looks at him?

I wanted to see the movie because I was 12 years old and "in love" with Brooke Shields but my parents wouldn't let me see it. Now, having read about the film, it seems to me, thaey made the right decision. 1981 Endless Love - Lionel Ritche and Diana Ross

This song was origiinally relesased by Bob Seegar as a solo, only later was it releasd as a duet with Keny Rogers and Shiela Easton, but I din't hear it until 1985 when Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton released it. 1985 - Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - We've Got Tonightgt

Another Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton song on this list of duets is, really, a Beegees song. (in the late 70s and early 80s I was huge Beegees fan.) This song was written by the Beegees but not recorded by them. 1983 - Islands in the Stream

in 1981 my Dad was chosen to oversee the churches of his denomination in Florida. When they first moved there I stayed in California with my sister and brother-in-law. One day I was listening to the radio and heard a song by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warrens. I loved it from the moment I heard it. All these years later I still haven't seen the movie for which it was written but in the mid-1990s I met Cocker's protoge Phil Driscoll in at a night club in San Farancisco. That is wheen I learned, if I remember correctly, that many years ago they owned, or maybe they only perfornmed, at a burlesque therater in Canada. It is hard to remember these days. Anyway - 1982 Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warrens - Up Where We Belong

I didn't even know about the exitence of Bary White until the mid 1990s but, OH HY GOSH, what an amazing phenomonon he was. Here he is singing All Around the World with Lisa Stansfield, the authhoress of the song, 1990

TELOS of this song. Though this song had been recorded by many singers between 1980 and 1989, the fullness of this song was only revealed by Neville and Rondstadt in in 1989.

It was in the late 1980s and I was a PFC in the U.S. Army's 101sst Airborne Division when a srgeant (his name was Morrison) came in to the battlion HQ one early Monday morning and said, "PFC Karnes, you need to see Dirty Dancing. Take your wife to see it with you. That is an order." This is th on;y song I remember from that movie. 1989 Jenifer Warraens and Bill Meddly - I had the time of my life.

Finally, Beloved, I give you a duet by Al Green and Annie Lennoox. Niether claims to be ORTHODOX buth bothhave opinions of Jesus. Lennox seems to be more complicated than Green. But we should pray for the salvation of both of them. Put a Little Loe in Your Heart.

Two Days of Greeks and a Chinese Recipe

Kathleen and I went to the Greek Festival in Oakland on Saturday. It was okay. We were there too early in the day (11 a.m.) so there were no singing or dancing acts. But I don't really like street fairs, church festivals, art and wine festivals, and things like that, anyway. The best parts of the trip were talking about the cathedral architecture with with a young priest and praying with some nuns from Calistoga. They were there selling books and honey. The nuns and I prayed for my son, Basil, who is still not recovered from Covid. I spent way too much money on food (Kathleen is always surprised when she likes lamb. She thinks she doesn't like it.), more than I would have paid in a resturaunt but I thought of it as an offering more than paying for lunch: Church festivals are fundraisers. Kathleen bought wedding rings and a prayerbook.

On Sunday morning we went to the Divine Liturgy. We left after the sermon since neither of us could go to Communion; Kathleen because she isn't an Orthodox Christian yet (her Baptism is not for five more days.), I because I wasn't prepared. (Kathleen: "But you went to confession just last week. You haven't done any sins since then." Me: "I can't walk across the living room without sinning.")

The sermon was about St. Photini (AKA the Woman at the Well). In the car afterwards, Kathleen asked me how many sermons I've heard on that text. When I said many she asked if they were all different and if I could remember any of my Dad's sermons on the text. They were all different and I do remember two of my Dad's. In one of them, I remember he was talking about how ignorant the disciples were, how they never understood what God was doing, and that we are all like that because God is infinite and we are not, because his ways are not our ways, and God is always going to know things we do not know and do things we do not understand. The other sermon I remember him preaching on that text was about how we don't get to decide who is in the Church. God chooses whom to include and we have to accept them. The main point of Fr. Basil's sermon yesterday was that Jesus always did the will of his Father, and that it was the Father who wanted him to go through Samaria and meet the woman at the well. If we desire to know the Father we must look at Jesus.

After Church we drove over to Santa Cruz on Hwy 9. We wound trough the hills, hills I've been winding through since the early 1990s, where all my sons and I had many adventures. In Boulder Creek we stopped at my favorite grocery store and got roast beef sandwiches. At the antique store across the street Kathleen found a sealable porcelain jar with a mallard painted on it. We ate the sandwiches at the covered bridge park in Felton. Then we drove on to Santa Cruz.

In Santa Cruz we saw a play, "An Iliad" at the Jewel Theater. (I've known the story, or parts of it for most of my life. As an adult I've read several different translations, in prose and verse, and have even atempted to read it in Homeric Greek but my knowledge of Koine Greek was not up to the task.) I was sobbing at the end of the performance. It was very moving.

We got home and Kathleen took a nap while I did some work, listening to reruns of A Praire Home Companion at the same time. When she woke about 8:30 p.m. I made supper: My Mother's twice cooked pork. She used to make this for the anual dinner for my Dad's colleagues on the board of the Florida District of the PCG. It was such a good dish but she only ever made it for that one event. She, really, did not like cooking.

Recipe
-cooked pork roast. My mom always used boiled loin. I like a mixture of left over oven roasted shoulder and boiled loin. About 1 pound in total, cut into 1 inch cubes.
-one shallot, peeled and minced
-one head of garlic, peeled and minced
- fresh ginger root, about as big as your hand, peeled and minced
-sesame oil, about 3 table spoons
- a head of green cabbage, chopped into long ribbons
- soy sauce, 2 tablespoons is enough for me, but I don't like too much salt. Most people, I've noticed, like to add more soy sauce at the table.
(sometime my Mom would use a yellow onion istead of shallot. Also, she would sometimes shread green bellpepper and add it to the wok at the same time as the cabbage.)
- 1 tablespood sesame seeds.

heat the oil in a wok until crazy hot, but not smoking. Add the the garlic and ginger stir constantly when the garlic turns brown, add the shallots and pork and keep stiring until the pork browns and gets crispy edges. add the cabbage and soy sauce. Keep stiring until the cabbage is soft. Toss in the sesame seeds. Serve.

Last trip to Truckee/Donner/Reno for 2020 and an Eagle Scout.

Kathleen and I went to Reno last Friday night.  I promptly got altitude sickness and was no good most of Saturday.  I had never experienced that before, and I hope I never do again.  It was misery but I started feeling better late on Saturday.  In the afternoon we went shooting at Reno Guns and Range then out to dinner at Wilde River Grill.  I had meatloaf.  Kathleen had braised beef spareribs.   On Sunday morning we stopped at St Anthony Church to pray before going up to Donner Lake to get the boat.  We had to get the boat because the berth I rented back in June was only until September 20.  So, we strapped it to the roof of the car and drove it home.  Now it is in Kathleen's garage.  I'm going to have to do something about that.

When we left San Jose on Friday night it was horrible smokey and still very hot.  Reno was the same.  While we were gone something must have happened because when we got home the air quality was much improved and the temperature was much lower.  It is almost like a normal September.  I'm starting to plan for Thanksgiving.

Covid is still messing with my life.  One of my goals every year is to be in church for all the Great Feasts.  I have never achieved this goal.  I was off to a good start with Nativity of the Theotokos but due to restrictions put in place because of Covid none of the parishes in the in the San Jose area had services open to the public.  So, maybe, next year.

Exactly a week ago tonight, Anselm Samuel (AKA the Little Boy) attended his last Boy Scout Troop meeting.  Technically, he hasn't been a Boy Scout since the spring when he turned 18 but Covid messed stuff up and there were no more troop meetings from before he turned 18 until last Wednesday.  And at that meeting, he was given the emblems of the Eagle Scout rank.  He did it.   Fewer than 5% of the boys who start out as Cub Scouts attain the rank of Eagle Scout.  He started in 2008.  It's been a long 12 years.  I  am super proud of him. 

Saint Basil's Day (The other Basil)

Today is the feast of St. Basil of Moscow, the patron or my youngest son.  So, while praying the ninth hour today we got to sing the Troparion for St. Basil of Moscow.

Most of the beets, kale, and pumpkins - all the pumpkins, actually- we transplanted two weeks ago were destroyed by squirrels.  But we are still getting 5 or six big tomatoes, a dozen little cherry tomatoes, and three or four zucchini every day. (The squirrels, even though I shoot them, get more of the zucchini than we do.)  I've put up six quarts of pickles.  I really wanted more pickles but there have been very few bees in the garden this summer, so thought there have been many flowers there have not been many cucumbers.  I don't know what to think of that.  The carrots did not do well.  But the bell peppers are doing amazing.  The pumpkins we planted back in February were harvested and all but one given away.  I started more cantaloupe and pumpkin 2 weeks ago on the back balcony.  Tomorrow I'll transplant then into the garden. The turnips and radishes did really well but I'm really the only person in the house who likes them, so I won't plant any more, I think.

A word about the tomatoes:  The Cherokee purples did not do well.  We only got three or four off each vine.  The real star among the tomatoes this year is the Lemon Boy vine.  It is prolific and is the best tasting tomato I have ever had.  We might plant three or four of them next spring.

I ordered some short growing season watermelon seeds from Baker Creek.  They should be here in a couple of days.  I'll sew them directly into the ground and hope to harvest them in early October.

Kathleen and I have been doing a lot of fun stuff this summer.  We go shooting at Coyote Sporting Clays pretty often.  And, of course there are all the trips to Tahoe/Truckee/Reno.  (Basil and I went last Sunday and Monday.  He had a great time on the boat.)

Something kind of neat happened at dinner tonight.  Kathleen and I were talking about the reading list (Bastiat, Smith, Friedman etc.) for the economics class she teaches when Anselm, who graduated from high school two years early so did not take the economics course high school seniors take, asked Kathleen if he can take her class.  And since she, like all teachers in the county, is teaching online he can take it.  

Flowers and a Trip to Donner Lake

I took the fish off the hook for Kathleen.

  Tuesday, two days ago now, early in the morning and with the boat strapped to the roof of the Subaru, Kathleen and I set off on a trip to Donner Lake.  We took the dog with us, and though he was mostly calm in the boat I think he prefers the land.  Kathleen caught a trout.

A really nice thing happened: We found a berth on the lake and it only cost $250 from now through mid-September.  Very happy about that.  Kathleen and her kids are spending a month there this summer and I was worried about her lifting the boat on to the roof of the car every day to go from her rental house to the lake but now that is not a problem.  I'm very happy about that. So, we left the boat on the lake and drove home at the end of the day.  Little did we know that CalTrans was repaving I-80 from Truckee to Auburn.  So we had to take a 30 mile detour through Tahoe National Forest at 25mph.  As we approached the Bay Area I thought we could take a short cut through the Caldecott Tunnel (my first time since the 4th bore oppened in 2013) but soon discovered that I-880 through Oakland was reduced from 7 southbound lanes to 1 southbound lane, and I-280 and U.S. 101 were both backed up due to road work. We did not get home until one o'clock on Wednesday morning.  But, still, it was a fun day.

Flowers on the Sweet Millions vine

Today we didn't do much.  Worked in the garden, watched some lectures from Hillsdale College, prayed the troparion and kontokian for Ascension and that's about all.  It was too hot to cook so we just had sliced vegetables (including tomatoes, radishes, and cucumbers from our garden) and cheese (Point Reyes Blue and Laura Chenel fresh goat cheese) for supper.

I talk about the tomatoes and other food crops in the garden but I think I like the flowers as much as the vegetables.  Here are pictures of some of the flowers in our garden.

Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday

Lazarus Saturday I made a big dinner.  The menu was 4 kinds of caviar (I ordered it from Marky's.  They always provide good service.), humous with celery, green onions, and carrots for dipping, kalamata olives, a three-been salad, a beet salad, pita, baklava from Greece, rose, mint and lemon  loukoumi from occupied Constantinople, and halva with nuts from Lebanon.  We prayed the troparion before eating and read a sermon on the resurrection of Lazarus while eating. 

On Palm Sunday I fried three big wild tilapia and a whole big bag full of okra.  Basil made hushpuppies.  Again before the eating we prayed the troparion.  It was the first time I had fried a fish since 1989 when I lived in Tennessee with my first wife.  Wow.  That seems like so long ago.

After dinner on Saturday we watched the first half of the BBC The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  We watched the second half on Sunday night.

Today is Holy Monday.  I watched a recording of last nights Bridegroom Matins service while I cleaned the guns.  (I know. I know.  I should have done it days ago.  I've been busy taking naps.)  I think I'll go work in the garden now.  I'm thinking about planting radishes and beets around the tomatoes.

Off the wagon

I went off the wagon today.  Actually, I have a big glass of whisky in hand as I write this.
It was miserable.  I was miserable.
I was told last week by my observer from National University that I am the "worst teacher on the planet".  I was told by my Consulting Teacher from the district that I am a horrible teacher.   (In both cases the main complaint is that I lecture too much, teach above grade level, and don't have my students doing anything.  By "doing" they mean anything other than reading, listening, and answering questions on tests.  They really hate tests.)
All morning and afternoon I was miserable.  I am supposed to write "reflections" on my lesson plans.  (I thought they were really good lessons:  water density experiments, oxidation experiments, bread mold [apparently the district doesn't want students exposed to mold], Linnaean taxonomy, making and exploding gunpowder, cellular respiration [seriously, how are you supposed to teach that without also talking about atomic theory?], etc).  But I did nothing all day today.  Now I am making fruitcakes.  And a bunch of the bourbon whiskey that was supposed to go into the fruitcakes wound up in me and, suddenly, I am happy again.  I had forgotten how good this feels.  Well, I suck.  If I hadn't invested $30,000 in this program at National University I would quit it today.
The only good thing about this day, a Saturday, is that this morning I delivered the Advent calendars to my sons and to Kathleen's kids. And I said morning prayers.  And I like Oliver the dog.

A Garden Update

We have taken out the the cucumber vines and most of the tomato vines.  The pumpkins, cantaloupe, and watermelons have all been harvested.  There are still a few tomatoes ripening on a couple of vines.  We have acorn, butternut, and spaghetti squash growing.  Actually, the butternut are, probably, ready to pick now.  I know the potatoes are ready.  Tomorrow, when son #4 is here we'll harvest them.  That should be fun.  A few Days ago Basil and I planted a row of cabbage.  Once all the tomatoes are gone we'll plant more.

It seems the prayers and the lithium have been helping Basil.  He is happier and his personality seems to be back to normal, the way he was three years ago.  I still worry and pray.  Last weekend he and I did all night security at the parish festival.  It was good.  We just played games all night.  The best part was vespers.  I think it was the first time since Holy Week he's been to church.

Anselm is working at Starbucks and going to school.  He seems to be doing well.  It is hard to know.  I worry about the friends he is making.  I don't know them but we live in Sodom or Ephesus.  I pray to St. Michael for him constantly.

Today in my life: Pickles, Tomahawks, and a Name Day.

I woke up this morning to the smells of Kathleen making breakfast.  Coffee, omelette with baccon, cheese, bell peppers, and onions. They are the best omelettes I have since I was in the Army.  Truly amazing. (We are on day two of the Dormition Fast but I do not keep the fasts.  Because of my living situation it feels pharisaical when I fast.  But maybe fasting would help me solve this problem.  I don't know.)

Kathleen and I moved one of the watermelon vines, watered, and picked tomatoes cucumbers and summer squash.  I ate a couple of the squash then pickled two pints of squash and cucumbers.  Then I cleaned Anselm Samuel's rifle, sharpened the the boys' tomahawks (One could shave with them now), smoked my pipe, and read the day's entry in the Prologue of Ohrid.
Today is my youngest son's Name Day.  He is named for St. Basil of Moscow.  I think I'll pray an Akathist for him now.  Oh, and I have to finish a TPA.

Today's Harvest

Tomahawks

Memorial Day, 10 Years for Billy, and Some Other Things

On Memorial Day Kathleen and her children, Anselm (aka the little boy), and I went to the grave yard and heard some speeches, saw the local politicians, and honored the fallen.  It was good.  This year we sat in the shade.  There was a female Air Force sergeant who sang the Star Spangled Banner.  It was the best job singing it I ever heard.  She sang it exactly as written; no embellishments.  I appreciate that.  It's the national anthem, and to jazz it up is the equivalent of jazzing up the Flag or the Great Seal.  It shouldn't be done.  Kathleen's son and daughter enjoyed climbing into the tanks and helicopters more than the speeches.  My son seemed more interested in a female bagpiper.

On Pentecost, Anselm and I drove up to San Francisco for the Vigil at Holy Trinity Cathedral.   It was good to see so many old friends.  Anselm's godmother didn't recognize him!


Last Wednesday was the 10th year since my oldest son died.  It was hard.  There is not a day that goes by that I do not weep for him.  The sorrow and regret is always just below the surface.  People said when he died that it would get better.  I think what they really meant is that I would just get used to the pain.  It doesn't go away.   My friend Jeff (the same Jeff I used to blog with), my oldest brother, my sister, Anselm, Kathleen, her children, and some people from the parish came together to pray the Trisagion for the Departed for my son Billy.

On the weekend of All Saints Day Anselm was at Camp Hi Sierra going through his Ordeal.  He made it to the end and is now, just like like Archbishop Benjamin, a member of the Order of the Arrow.  I am proud of him.

Kathleen posing with the latino big-butt  manequins

Ski-Ball

On the Sunday of All Saints I over-slept!  I don't know how but I slept right through my alarm and didn't wake up until 10 minutes after the Divine Liturgy had started.  So, Kathleen and I went to the flea market.  The San Jose Flea market is the largest open air market in the United States and has been in operation since 1960.  It was my first time to be there since before i started kindergarten.  I still remember going all those years ago.  I remember the plastic swords my cousin Brian and I got but that is about all.  It was 45 or 46 years ago.

Kathleen bought me some hurache sandals (as mentioned in the Beach Boys song).  She bought herself some camping chairs.  We played ski-ball. We got some avocados and mangoes for lunch. 

Basil Swimming.  It is deep.

Yesterday Basil, my youngest son felt like getting out of bed so we went down to the creek where he swam and we worked on a fort.  Mainly we cleared brush.  He has plan to plant bamboos for walls.  The water is polluted with all kinds of chemicals and heavy metals, but I am just so happy any day he is brave enough to get out of bed.  I think it will work out okay.             

The geese were nonplussed

  Oh!  I should mention that Kathleen did something pretty neat the other day.  For almost 30 years I have been buying The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco as a present for people.  I think it is one of the best books ever written.  Well, the other day the author was in town and Kathleen went to the book signing and got a copy of the book autographed for me!  Isn't that sweet?

Kathleen with Patricia Polacco

Schedules, A Date, Prayers, and Bible Reading

I had been taking the boys with me to church on Saturday nights and then taking them to Pizza on Monday nights.  Pizza night was a tradition from almost as long as we lived in Willow Glen, and I wanted to keep it alive for the boys.  Saturday's were always hard.  My ex-wife always saw other things as more important than the Saturday night vigil: "It's okay for them to miss tonight. They'll be Orthodox their whole life!"  After she kicked me out we decided that I would take the boys with me on Saturday nights, and she would take them with her on Sunday mornings.   But almost every week she would text me and say the boys had other plans on Saturday night, and I would think to myself, "well, at least they are going on Sunday."  But then I would hear that they did something else on Sunday.  It was very frustrating for me.  About a month ago I said to her, "How would you feel if I cancelled yout plans with the boys?" She didn't say anything to me then but about two weeks ago she sent me a text saying that Saturday nights don't work for her because the boys often have Boy Scout or social activities on those nights.  And she asked me if I would like Sunday instead.  So, the boys have been to the Divine Liturgy with me the last two Sundays, and it has been good.

On Monday night Basil Wenceslas and I went to pizza while Anselm Samuel had his first date.  He walked home from school with a girl, stopping at Starbucks on the way.  I was alarmed when his mother told me about this.  I added the girl to my prayer list.  I told Anselm he should invite her to Church and pizza night.

Beginning yesterday, I began driving to their house to chant the morning prayers with the boys, and then drive them to school. Today I added Bible reading.  We each read Psalm 1 aloud to each other and talked about it.  I think we'll read one of the 5 books of the Psalms, then read a Gospel, until we have read all the Psalms and Gospels. 

Two Jobs, Las Vegas, and Advent Song

Since the last week of September I've had two jobs.  I still work for the YMCA on Saturdays and Sundays but on the other days of the week I work for a bank as a rep to car dealers.  My goal is not to have two jobs for the rest of my life but right now I need a lot of money. 

My banking job sent me to Las Vegas for a few day for meetings.  I won some money at the roulette and craps tables at night and that's good because it was an expensive trip.  Nothing in Las Vegas is inexpensive.  I ate at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant at the MGM Grand, where the bank put me up in a nice room.  I just got back today (Saturday) from the trip and am very tired.  Thankfully, I arranged to have today and tomorrow off from my YMCA job.


I haven't made any Advent posts in a few years.  That is something I want to rectify now.  I am too tired to and not very spiritual right now, but I still have hope.  It is not strange that my hope looks back and forward at the same time; back to Genesis 3:15 and forward to Revelation 22:20.  Everything past and future is, really, now. And our experience of the past and the future are now because when Jesus entered history he didn't merely take on humanity and our experiences, but brought eternity to us so that we can remember things that haven't happened yet and give thanks for them.  This is how Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world, how he died on Calvary, and how we eat his Body and Blood every Sunday (well, not me, I have to work).  It is one eternal event made present to us by the Incarnation.  So, even though Jesus has come, we still expect him to come.  We still look forward to his birth in Bethlehem.  Thus, we sing this old Advent hymn, based on even older antiphons, and mean every word and feel such desperate yearning for the Lord's appearance.

This week so far.

It is about 2 on Thursday morning.

On Sunday I didn't have enough money to get to church but I sold my last shotgun (The boys are not happy about me selling my guns.  They wanted then when I die.) so now I have enough money for my phone payment and some gas.  Of course, this means I won't be getting any spring turkeys.  Maybe some day in the future.  Who knows? 


On Monday I applied for a job as a bartender and was 99% sure I was going to get it.  The guy never called.  I've decided to stop counting the number of jobs I've applied for.  It is a little depressing.  A recruiter (a friend of my sister) looked at my resume and said "it's all over the place" and "it needs some work".  I know, the big companies like specialists.  But isn't that a boring way to live?  Isn't that kind of an insect way to live?  Soldier ants are only soldier ants.  Only one kind of bug gathers nectar from only one kind of orchid.  But I'm not an insect.  I'm a man and men are not specialists, We are generalists. 


I can do anything.  And if I can't do it I can learn how. In my life I've been an aluminum recycler, a sandwich maker, a parking lot striper, a soldier (which means I was a chaplain assistant, rifleman, clerk, and driver), an electrician's helper, a bookkeeper, a road paver, a data entry clerk, an advertising salesman (which means I was an account executive, copywriter, report writer, survey designer, researcher, guy who says to the engineers "Hey, I have an idea. Is it possible to..."), apartment manager, welder, mechanic, hotel front desk clerk, metal fabricator, cinema manager, shoe salesman, and car salesman.   So, I haven't had a lot of job stability.  But I've done more things than most people ever will.  And that doesn't even count the amazing things I've done as a volunteer for the Boy Scouts, political campaigns, and my Church. 


Well, also on Monday, I pulled in to the parking lot at Basil's school and when I got out of the car I heard a "click click click click" coming from the car next to me.  They lady's battery was dead.  So I gave her a jump. (I always carry heavy duty jumper cables, an emergency blanket, a box of road flares, matches, 2 gallons of water, and snow chains in my car).  Turns out she was the nanny of one of the other Orthodox kids at the school.  There are three.  Basil is in the third grade, then there are two girls.  One is in the 2nd grade and one is in the 1st grade.  When I walked up to the car the girl said, "Hi, Basil's dad!"  I thought that was weird until later when Basil told me she was Orthodox and that's how she knows me.  He said none of the Orthodox kids play with each other at school (different grades and sexes) but he likes it that he isn't the only Orthodox Christian at the school.


I ran into the 1st grade girl and her mother at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox in San Jose, which is where my boys go to Church School.  We chatted for a while. Turns out she and her husband used to be protestant.  Before they had children used to go to one of the churches in Silicon Valley I think of as a Rock and Roll churches.  But having children prompted them to figure out what they really believe.  One thing I thought was funny was when she said about her old church, "Matt, they had a fog machine but they never would have dreamed of worshipping God with incense."  I thought that was a very funny thing to say but I knew exactly what she was talking about. 


Tuesday I was feeling pretty low about my job hunt.  I don't want to talk about Tuesday.


Wednesday was good.  I applied for five jobs, took a nap, and went to Church for the praying of the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete.  One this one night of the year the whole Orthodox Church all around the world sings the Great Canon and reads the Life of St. Mary of Egypt.  They let me read it tonight.  It is always a shocking story. I love reading and chanting in church.  Maybe, if I ever get my life together again I can pick up with the training to be a reader.

A Hymn to Mary

We mention Mary and pray, at least, a short prayer to the God-bearer at every service, but last night, during the Great Canon I was struck by how much we Orthodox pray to her during Lent.  I got me to thinking about a hymn we sing all the time during Lent.  It is sung by the Orthodox every day during Lent, The Coptic and the Roman Catholic. I've read, also sing it but I do not know when.   While it probably isn't the oldest hymn to Mary, it is the one for which we have the oldest evidence:  A fragment, which scholars date to about A.D. 250, written in Greek that was found in Egypt.

Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν,
καταφεύγομεν, Θεοτόκε.
Τὰς ἡμῶν ἱκεσίας,
μὴ παρίδῃς ἐν περιστάσει,
ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ κινδύνων λύτρωσαι ἡμᾶς,
μόνη Ἁγνή, μόνη εὐλογημένη.

Beneath thy compassion,
We take refuge, O Theotokos:
do not despise our petitions in time of trouble,
but rescue us from dangers,
only pure one, only blessed one.

Dormition and Dolmas

The Orthodox Church's two week long Dormition Fast starts in a few hours.  It is a time when, in preparation for the feast, we abstain from meat, dairy, fish, wine, oil, and sex. 

For the past couple of years I have not been able to get one of my fasting staples at Trader Joe's:  Amazing vegan dolmas in an octagonal glass jar. They also used to carry some in cans which were very good but not quite as good as those in the glass jar.  I know it is possible to get dolmas from other sources, but the jarred dolmas sold by Trader Joe's were the best.    

And the other great thing about them was that you could  burn the leftover oil from the dolmas jar in your lampada!  It was like an answer to the prayer I used to sing at every chapel service at Sunnyvale Christian School.  What prayer you ask?  This one!  But back to the story...

Yesterday, while in a coffee shop, I ran into the Captain of a Trader Joe's store.  I told him about how we Orthodox depend on Trader Joe's dolmas, how we would stand around after services and talk about how great Trader Joe's dolmas in the glass jar are.  He had no idea they had a fan base.  Today he sent me this message:

"Hello Matt.
To follow up on your quest for Dolmas, I have good news.
My computer tells me that we will be getting Dolmas again.
What I know is that it will be $2.49 for 9.9 ounces.
What I don't know is the exact arrival. Could be a week, could be a month.
Could be a can or a jar, I won't know until it arrives.
Feel free to ask at the front desk periodically for an update when you are in shopping.
Thanks, Randy
Trader Joe's Pinole Captain."

In other news, I am a little bit worried my depression is coming back.  All I want to do lately is sleep.

Back and Forth and All Around

Life is kind of weird right now.  Here are my activities for the past few days.  I write them here just so I can remember them later. 

Today is Sunday. On Thursday I drove from Pinole to San Jose to stand in front of a judge.  It was strange.  Athanasia and her lawyer were on one side. I was on the other (I can't afford a lawyer.

Lara (I lived with her for two weeks after I moved out of Athanasia's apartment, but now I live with my friend Jeff in Pinole.)  and I saw a movie at the Stanford Theater.    The film was "The Devil to Pay" with Ronald Coleman and Loretta Young. I wasn't feeling well (I'll blame it on having to be in court earlier) so we left before the start of the second feature.   Then I drove back to Pinole.

On Friday I had a job interview in San Jose, so I drove down the side of the Bay again and pitched myself.  If I get the job I'll be paid for writing.  It would be the first time for that.  I really hope I get it.  Well, I was paid for writing in the past, but it was always in a sales context.  This job would be writing for a company blog and all of their social media.

I can't remember what I did after the job interview. It is strange.  It is like several hours are just gone.

I spent Friday night with my sister in Sunnyvale. They have a very comfortable house.   On Saturday morning I picked up the boys at Athanasia's work, the Stanford Guest House, and had fun with them all day.  We went to the athletic field at Palo Alto High School were for Scout promotion requirements I recorded their ability in sit-ups, push-ups, standing long jump, and 1/4 mile run.  We watched a little bit of a girls water-polo match (Water polo might be the most physically demanding sport I have ever seen.) in the school's pool.  Then we went to Café Barrone in Menlo Park.  There I bought the boys lemonade and a frosted mocha.  The lemonade is real and made fresh daily. The frosted mocha is an amazing blend of chocolate ice cream and dark roasted coffee beans.

After the drinks we went to Kepler's bookstore.  It is much reduced in size from it's previous glory.  But the children's section is still good.  While there I read a book to the boys that was much fun.  It was, I think, their introduction to non-Biblical epistolary literature.  It is a fun book and worth reading.  I also saw a copy of The Year at Maple Hill Farm, a book I read often to the boys.  Basil, especially, was excited to see it again.  His remembering with such happiness my reading it to him made me happy.

From there we went to the Gamble Garden.  We used to go there often when Basil was just very little, when Anselm was only five or six.  Now Basil is 7 and Anselm is 11.  Basil had no memory of the place but Anselm was super happy to be there again.  We played hide-and-go-seek.  Several varieties of apples and pears were ripe.  We picked and ate.  There was a Washington navel orange with ripe fruit on it.  We tried that, too.  We concluded that the Washington is sweeter, but California navel oranges are easier to eat.

After playing in the garden I showed the boys were I used to live on Middlefield road in Palo Alto, where I went to school at Fairmeadow Elementary School, and Mitchell Park which is situated between where I lived and where I went to school.  Basil said "you got to go to the park every day after school!"   They wanted to play in the fountain. I let them.

We left the park and I took them to their house in San Jose (It used to be my house, too) to change clothes.  Athanasia wasn't home so it was okay.  I made them something to eat, they showered and changed clothes and we went to Saratoga for Great Vespers at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church.  We all went to Confession.  Basil served in the altar.  Each boy asked me to buy them a candle so they could pray.  After church I thought to ask what they were praying for.  Basil said he prayed for his brother Billy.  Anselm said he was praying for me and his mother.

After vespers I dropped them off at their house (Athanasia was home) and went to see Lara.  We talked briefly in a park near her house.  She is buying a new house.  Then I made the long trip back to Pinole.  Caltrans was working on the freeway and had closed half the lanes.  Instead of driving 65 mph the whole way I had to drive 40 for about 2/3 of it.  during the drive I had a strange experience.  I was on the elevated portion of the freeway in Oakland when all of a sudden I thought the road in front of me was gone!  It was very frightening.  I guess it was a combination of darkness and the way the road curved and dipped.  I slammed on my brakes and nearly caused a wreck behind me.  It was so strange.  I hope nothing like that ever happens again.

When I got to Pinole there was a black out in the neighborhood were I am staying.  PG&E trucks were all over the place and men were working furiously on fixing what ever the problem was. When I woke up this morning there was still no power.  I am writing this at a coffee shop.

Blessed Assurance

I just read a story about press coverage of a Broadway revival of A Trip to Bountiful.

It made me happy to read these words again.  And if you grew up like I did that means you heard them, too.

Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain: This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Here are two versions I love!

Alan Jackson is here is here.

Kinetra Dixon and Southside are here.

It's big in Korea, too!

Bonus Comentary:  Do you know what black choirs have that, in my experience, all other choirs don't have?  Absolute control at all times.  No matter how emotional or even boring some of the music is, the choir does what it is supposed to do.

Paschal Hours

In the Orthodox Church this week is called Bright Week.  We eat anything we want.  We drink anything we want.  We have as much sex as we want, or can, if that is the case.  But we also change some of our liturgical practices.  For example, we do not read the Psalms or pray O Heavenly King.  And there are liturgical changes at home, too.  Morning and Evening Prayers, as found in the prayer books, are pretty long but during Bright Week we pray different prayers (click the links to hear the music):

A disadvantage of living in a republic

In general, I love living in a republic.  I am who I am, and bow to no man, except Orthodox Clergy, and my brothers and sisters in Christ, and the poor, and sinners, and pictures of saints, and... but other than those few exceptions, I bow to no one.   Because we are all equal-ish.  I'm a mister and the President is a mister.  But when I see and hear something like this; love of their queen, and faith that God hears their prayer blended together in beautiful music, well, it is almost enough to make me a monarchist.

Tattle-tales and Love

The boys have been bothering me with their tattleing on each other.  So I got the Icon of St. Peter down off the wall, and with the icon in my lap and each boy sitting beside me, I read to them a sermon on Love and Peter preached by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh.   Then we taked about love and not rejoicing in the misdeeds of others. And, beeseching the prayers of St. Peter we asked God to help us love each other like Peter loves Jesus and Jesus loves Peter.  Basil was in tears by the end, but I think Anselm still wants to tattle.